4/25/15

And
I’m not talking about the 2016 version, which we all know will be spent playing
for some other team.

Sadly
(at least to me), we will say goodbye to our all-star second baseman, probably
at the end of the year, regardless of how well he hits this season. Murphy’s
had a horrible start, but he still is the best ‘bat’ this team has had over the
past five years and my bet he will work his way out of his hitting funk by the
end of April.

One
real positive sign is the few number of strikeouts he has verses at bats.
Actually, he leads the league in the lowest K-AB percentage, an amazing feat
since he is hitting so low.

I
blame all this on two things… his spring training hamstring pull and his
probably masking the fact that he wasn’t fully healed when he came back. Have
you ever had a hamstring pull? And, have you ever had a hamstring pull and
tried swinging a baseball at a 95mph fastball with your weight planted
correctly?

2015
is Murphy’s contract year and I’m sure he felt that the wrong thing to do was
spend April on the disabled list. I understand the logic in this, and the last
thing he needed to do was add weight to his reputation of being injury prone,
but hitting below .200 isn’t going to do wonders for him either.

Is
there a solution for this by replacing him with either Danny
Muno or Dilson Herrera?

Not
really. The Mets are in a real time pennant race right now and guys with proven
talent like Murphy are hard to find, especially when two of your top ‘bars (David Wright, Travis d’Arnaud)
are on the disabled list.

What
you need to do is support this guy. Clap hard when he hits it hard even if it’s
right at an opponent player.

He’ll
work himself out of this.

Second opinion on Murph -

12:12

Comment From AN
Two part Mets question: What kind of return could be Mets realistically expect back for Dillon Gee; and if Dillson Herrara and Matt Reynolds hit well in the first half would you trade Daniel Murphy at the deadline if you were Alderson? Thanks.

12:12

Dave Cameron: Gee is barely worth his salary, so just shedding the money is a good trade. If you eat the money, maybe you can get a bullpen arm or something.

12:12

Dave Cameron: And it looks like the Mets might be Wild Card contenders, so no to trading Murphy.

There are a number of
qualities within Cecchini’s profile that suggest he actually oughtn’t be
regarded as a fringe prospect of any sort. He was selected 12th overall, for
example, in the 2012 draft. He was given near slot-value bonus of $2.3 million.
He has an older brother who himself is considered a future major leaguer.
Despite those qualities, however, Cecchini is absent from McDaniel’s list —
and, in fact, has never appeared on any of the preseason lists produced by
Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, or MLB.com, either. His omission has
likely been the result both of a perceived lack of tools and cosmetically poor
slash lines. He recorded nearly as many walk as a strikeouts last year,
however, as just a 20-year-old over 271 plate appearances in the High-A Florida
State League. He’s improved upon those marks early in his Double-A career,
having produced walk and strikeout rates of 8.8% each while also adding a home
run.

Mack – I think
this is the first time I have ever read someone write the word ‘prospect’ when
they talked about Cecchini. I haven’t been that kind about him, or the fact
that the Mets drafted him over many other players I thought would have been a
better choice (Courtney Hawkins, Lucas Giolito, Michael Wacha), but he is having a better season and we have to remember that
he still is only 20-years old.

3
comments:

Im not going to hate on Murph, but I do wish the team would move him down the batting order a little.Yes he's not striking out much, but outside of that awesome 3run double, most of his balls in play have been lazy fly balls and soft grounders.

I do think there's possibly a link to the low strikeout ratio and the poor average. When he goes poorly, he has so many weak "contact" swings. Reminds me of those 13-year-old boys playing on the 90-foot basepaths for the first time. I have to tell them, "That weak swing isn't going to get it done, you've got to drive that ball out of the infield." Swing hard, Murph! And, yes, be willing to whiff if that comes with the territory.